University HRM Assignment: Occupational Health & Employee Relations

This comprehensive Human Resource Management assignment, submitted by a student, addresses key aspects of creating a healthy and effective work environment. Part A focuses on Occupational Health and Safety Legislation, analyzing its impact on employer and employee behavior. Part B involves developing a work-life balance handbook, justifying the inclusion of specific services and programs. Part C presents a case study on Labor-Management Relations, offering solutions to resolve conflicts and improve communication. The assignment also touches upon managing employee separations, and concludes with a summary of learning. The assignment highlights the importance of safe working conditions, employee well-being, and positive relationships between labor and management, all essential for organizational success.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Part A.........................................................................................................................................2
Occupational Health and Safety Legislation..........................................................................2
Part B..........................................................................................................................................6
Work-Life Balance in the Workplace....................................................................................6
Part C........................................................................................................................................10
Labour- Management Relations...........................................................................................10

2HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Part A
Occupational Health and Safety Legislation
Introduction
Occupational Health and Safety Legislation (OH&S) is an important act that had been
introduced due to the outcry of the public against the rising death and injury rates in the
workplace (Ccohs.ca, 2019). This law was implemented by the government to make sure the
employers provide their subordinates and employees with suitable and proper working
conditions that ensure safety and protect the employees from any kind of danger. This law
introduced has three primary and basic strategies that are reduce illness and injuries, maintain
health standards and reduce death rates in the workplace. This law since then has ensured
safety and has had positive impacts of employer as well as the employee behavior.
Responsibilities of the Government
The responsibilities of the government are to enforce the OH&S. It is the duty of the
government to inspect whether the law has been enforced effectively. Any serious deaths or
injuries need to be investigated thoroughly to understand the causes of the accidents. The
government needs to promote education; research and effective training that will ensure
safety in the workplace and lastly need to resolve disputes that occur because of OH&S
(Evans, 2017).
Responsibilities and rights of the employees
The employees need to follow the necessary instructions and use equipments for that
are provided by the employer that will help in ensuring safety in the workplace. The
employee can report any hazardous and about missing equipment that can be dangerous for

3HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
the environment so that there may be effective change that will ensure safety (Ccohs.ca,
2019).
Responsibilities of the employer
It is the duty of the employer to follow the rules and regulations and also ensure the
rules are followed that ensures safety. The employer should provide safe workplace and also
examine to meet the safety standards according to the act (Ccohs.ca, 2019). The employer
must maintain the records of injuries and death in the workplace and make necessary
changes. The employer should act upon the complaints made by employees about the
workplace and not discriminate employees (Ccohs.ca, 2019).
Effects of the OH&S on employer and employee
The increasing death rates were the major reason for countries to introduce the
Occupational Health & Safety Legislation to protect employees from accidents and provide
them with safe working conditions. This act had a very positive effect on the employees as it
had been seen that the death rates in organizations especially in factories reduced. This
promoted employee retention, satisfaction and motivation (Cooklin, 2017). According to
scholars, safe working condition paves way for enhanced employee performance (Raziq &
Maulabakhsh, 2015). This law has had positive impacts on the employees that have resulted
in the productivity of the organizations as well.
Employers after the implementation of this act have become more responsible in
terms of their working condition. This has benefited the employers immensely as this act has
enhanced the performance of the employees which has benefited them in terms of employee
production as well as retention (Ndjoulou, Desmarais & Pérusse, 2015). This has paved way

4HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
for the positive reputation of their organizations which have been beneficial for them in the
market.
Conclusion
The OH&S is a necessary law that has been enforced and has become a part of the
jurisdiction which has made the workplace a better place and has helped in reducing
avoidable accidents which has been beneficial for the employees and the employers as this
has helped employees to work happily and has been more productive which has impacted the
organizations positively.

5HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Reference
Ccohs.ca. (2019). Rights and responsibilities. Retrieved from
https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/legisl/responsi.html
Ccohs.ca. (2019). Start the conversation. Retrieved from
https://www.ccohs.ca/healthyworkplaces/
Cooklin, A., Joss, N., Husser, E., & Oldenburg, B. (2017). Integrated approaches to
occupational health and safety: A systematic review. American journal of health
promotion, 31(5), 401-412.
Evans, H. W. (2017). Corporate social responsibility (CSR): tailoring regulation and
government policy to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (Doctoral
dissertation).
Ndjoulou, F., Desmarais, L., & Pérusse, M. (2015). Employer Responsibility for
Occupational Health and Safety: Challenges, Issues and Approaches. Journal of
Management, 3(1), 1-8.
Raziq, A., & Maulabakhsh, R. (2015). Impact of working environment on job satisfaction.
Procedia Economics and Finance, 23, 717-725.

6HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Part B
Work-Life Balance in the Workplace
Work timings and schedules, holidays and leave policies are important which will
help employees to work efficiently and maintain a work-life balance that will encourage the
employees to work harder and also provide sufficient time for the employees to have leisure
time of their own that will pave way for positive mental health that will help in enhancing the
performance of the employees which will be beneficial for both the employees as well as the
organization (Zheng et al, 2015).
Employee handbook
Timings and extra shifts
 The employees have to work five days a week, Monday to Friday.
 The shift timing will be from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
 Anybody working after the shift timing will be compensated and will be provided half
day whenever the employees would need one and no money will be deducted for this
half day.
Leaves
 Each month employees are entitled to use 2 casual leaves and 2 sick leaves.

7HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
 Paid leaves will provided to employees only in selected situations which are the
following:
o Nursing someone in the house with serious illness.
o Maternity leaves
o Paternity leaves
o Essential jobs like bank jobs, parent- teacher meeting.
o Any employee who is completing their studies will be provided paid leaves to
attend exams.
o Any college or other certification work.
o During an employee’s marriage.
Holidays
 Company acknowledges the public holidays and provides the employees all the public
holidays.
 Holidays during emergency will be provided like any kind of natural calamities, strike
or any other emergencies.
 Employees are allowed to go on holidays during the holiday season and any holidays
or vacation taken should be informed beforehand. The first seven days of a holiday
will be paid and from the eighth day money will be deducted.
The employee handbook that has been provided is made keeping the employees in mind
so that they have proper work life balance which is essential in everyone’s life. The shift
timings that are provided in the handbook are developed so that the employees get enough
time to spend with their families and get adequate rest. It is important to reward employees
for the extra effort they put in thus the compensation has been provided to them. According

8HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
to scholars, extra play motivates employees to provide fruitful production to the employees
which are beneficial for the organization (Woods, 2017). Paid leaves especially during
emergency situations shows how the organization puts importance on their employees and
also provides employees to maintain a balance between professional as well as personal life.
There are many times employees need holiday for their personal work and it is the duty of the
organization to understand other needs of the employees so that a healthy relationship is
maintained as well which also facilitates work life balance (Agha, Azmi & Irfan, 2017).
Every employee needs breaks from the monotonous life which they lead. The holiday
schemes and rules that are introduced in the handbook are made keeping in mind to promote
work life balance (Gallagher, 2015). Holidays provide employees with their own time and are
like a stress buster for them. This helps employees a work life balance which makes the
employees happy and ensure job satisfaction.
The rules and policies in the handbook ensure that the employees get enough rest so
that they are fit and healthy physically and mentally. This helps in employee retention,
employee satisfaction as well as performance which will help the employee as well as the
organization in which they work grow.

9HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Reference
Agha, K., Azmi, F. T., & Irfan, A. (2017). Work-life balance and job satisfaction: An
empirical study focusing on higher education teachers in Oman. International Journal
of Social Science and Humanity, 7(3), 164.
Gallagher, S. (2015). A mixed methods investigation of stress, compassion fatigue and
satisfaction, governed by self-care strategies, for integrative Irish psychotherapists:
this too shall pass (Doctoral dissertation, Dublin Business School).
Woods, D. D. (2017). Essential characteristics of resilience. In Resilience engineering (pp.
21-34). CRC Press.
Zheng, C., Molineux, J., Mirshekary, S., & Scarparo, S. (2015). Developing individual and
organisational work-life balance strategies to improve employee health and wellbeing.
Employee Relations, 37(3), 354-379

10HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Part C
Labour- Management Relations
The relationship between the labour or the employees and the management is
interdependent (Deszczyński, 2016). The relationship between the two needs to be positive
and healthy that will help and benefit everyone in the organization which is essential for
everyone. This part is a case study which will provide how to maintain positive relationship
between the employees or laborers and the management.
Brief overview of the case
An old employee named James has been working for CN Rail for the past 16 years.
He suggests that employees need to submit their applications for vacations by the 1st of April
every year and the vacation must be allocated to employees on the basis of the seniority level
of the employees. This statement was made by him as in June 10th James had submitted an
application for a vacation requested had been denied to him as a junior employee was already
granted an off on the very same day. This incident made James feel sad as he was not granted
leave though he applied before and thus he claimed that the forms that are filled are not
received on time.
Steps to be taken to resolve the situation or the matter
Organizations or companies should take certain steps regarding making rules regarding
leave applications. There are many employees who may apply for leaves on the same day
however they should be granted based on the exigency and who applied first. There should be
certain steps that will ensure leaves are granted in a fair manner.

11HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
 If it is a planned leave then the employees should submit their applications one month
prior to the leave so that the company or the organization is aware about the leave and
the employees get the necessary leave without any problem.
 In the age of digitalization, the leave applications are usually dropped to the Human
Resource (HR) via email. The HR Manager should make a different email ID where
the employees only apply for leave applications so that it becomes easier for the HR
to see which employees applied for leaves in order to grant them so that all the
applications are received by them.
 Leaves need to be granted in terms of who applies first however in case of urgencies
and special cases the employees will be granted leave.
 Communication is a key factor in every organization (Huang, Yao & Duan, 2017).
Effective communication should be present between the employees and the
management so that if there are any other problems then the employees can approach
the management and the situation or the matter can be resolved.
In this case study, the Human Resource Manager should look into the matter and consider
the leave application of both the employees as both have submitted leave applications. The
organization should consider James because it was the fault of the HR where he or she did
not check the applications properly. In order to resolve this matter it is the duty of the HR to
consider this once and then make effective changes that will ensure these mistakes are not
made again.